Esociformes

Northern pike Esox lucius, copyright Jik Jik.

Belongs within: Protacanthopterygii.

The Esociformes are a Holarctic group of carnivorous freshwater fishes, characterised by the presence of preethmoids and paired proethmoids in the place of the mesethmoids, and the absence of an adipose fin and of the orbitosphenoid and mesocoracoid, and the loss of teeth on the maxillaries (Bond 1996).

Esociformes [Palaeoesocidae, Umbridae]
    |  i. s.: Palaeoesox G88
    |         Boltyshia P93
    |           |--B. brevicauda Sytchevskaya & Danil’chenko 1975 P93
    |           `--B. truncata Sytchevskaya 1976 P93
    |--+--Dallia [Dalliidae] B96
    |  |    `--D. pectoralis B96
    |  `--Umbra ND13
    |       |--U. krameri Walbaum 1792 SE08
    |       |--U. limi ND13
    |       `--U. pygmaea B96
    `--+--Novumbra hubbsi ND13
       `--Esocidae NE12
            |--Estesesox foxi Wilson et al. 1992 P93
            |--Oldmanesox canadensis Wilson et al. 1992 P93
            `--Esox Linnaeus 1758 ND13, L58
                 |--E. americanus ND13
                 |    |--E. a. americanus SBW95
                 |    `--E. a. vermiculatus SBW95
                 |--E. bellone Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 |--E. brasiliensis Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 |--E. gymnocephalus Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 |--E. hepsetus Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 |--E. lucius Linnaeus 1758 SE08
                 |--E. masquinongy B96
                 |--E. niger B96
                 |--E. osseus Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 |--E. reicherti B96
                 |--E. synodus Linnaeus 1758 L58
                 `--E. vulpes Linnaeus 1758 L58

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2^nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.

[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[ND13] Near, T. J., A. Dornburg, R. I. Eytan, B. P. Keck, W. L. Smith, K. L. Kuhn, J. A. Moore, S. A. Price, F. T. Burbrink, M. Friedman & P. C. Wainwright. 2013. Phylogeny and tempo of diversification in the superradiation of spiny-rayed fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 110 (31): 12738–12743.

[NE12] Near, T. J., R. I. Eytan, A. Dornburg, K. L. Kuhn, J. A. Moore, M. P. Davis, P. C. Wainwright, M. Friedman & W. L. Smith. 2012. Resolution of ray-finned fish phylogeny and timing of diversification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109 (34): 13698–13703.

[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.

[SE08] Sevcsik, A., & T. Erös. 2008. A revised catalogue of freshwater fishes of Hungary and the neighbouring countries in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Pisces). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 100: 331–383.

[SBW95] Stauffer, J. R., Jr, J. M. Boltz & L. R. White. 1995. The fishes of West Virginia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 146: 1–389.